


The Kid

by KoroMarimo



Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Children, Gay Dad Straight Mom, Other, Parent-Child Relationship, Teen Pregnancy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-27
Updated: 2018-12-27
Packaged: 2019-09-28 10:10:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,238
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17180981
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KoroMarimo/pseuds/KoroMarimo
Summary: He’d been gone so long, he was worried he wouldn’t be able to fill the gap he’d left behind.





	The Kid

**Author's Note:**

> I’ve not been doing well...
> 
> I have a weird life, and when I’m sad I like to imagine nice things that I could have had... and I hope that this story makes you feel as nice and loved as it did me.

“Do... do you ever feel like you’re a failure?”

She gave him a look, the kind of look that would only be complete had she a cigarette in one hand and a scotch on the rocks in the other. Working as an accountant gave her a rather exotic look now that she had a steady income. She bought cheap clothes and expensive makeup, the ¥4,000 highlighter on her cheeks made her shine inside and out and gave her the look of a movie star. And her fuck all attitude hadn’t changed in the five years he’d been away from home.

“All the time sweetie.” Mariko laughed, not bothering to keep her voice down, “At your age I was a fucking mess. I can’t imagine coming back after the hell you’ve been through.”

“I just started feeling like it was the biggest waste of time. Maybe I should have been here helping out, getting a nine to five job and providing.”

“You had to chase your dreams.” Mariko asserted. “It was only fair... I chased mine, and I’m thankful to you for letting me. You know that. It’s not horrible to want something so badly that you have to sacrifice certain things for it.”

Yuuri was relieved. A little less anxious about his shortcomings, even though they were still there. Mariko didn’t have the power to completely make his anxiety go away, but her words were grounding. Encouraging. He’d missed her companionship, telephone calls had only made him feel worse as his failings continued to pile up like roadkill, one after the other, himself screaming behind the wheel of the speeding monster truck that was his life. But seeing her in person with her short hair and piercing eyes made him calmer. Relaxed even, at least when it came to the situation at hand. He didn’t feel so terrible about what waited for him at home. Life had gone on. Everything was working at least in this neck of the woods. He’d had a productive dinner. A bit surprising considering you’d refused morsels of pork encrusted with panko from his bowl, and the near meltdown he’d had after seeing you turn away with a grimace when he invited you to take a turn around the skating rink with him.

“I’ve been gone too long...” Yuuri admitted.

“Yeah... Me too.” she agreed, petting the soft head currently perching on her lap, your small chest rising and falling as Mariko’s manicured nails massaged your scalp.

“I didn’t know she doesn’t like pork meat.” he muttered sadly.

“Last you saw her she was still hanging onto a bottle. She didn’t get into solid food until about six months, and even then she rarely eats meat.” Mariko said. “One Christmas I came in with some presents and two of those ten piece buckets, and she was eating plain rice with her little hands. Refused the candy, the fried chicken, everything but the rice and the bell peppers your ma had to make for her.”

“Time sure flies, doesn’t it?”

“Don’t I know it... She’s a soft five now.” Mariko remarked. “Smartest little shit I’ve ever seen. Your sister, bless her, she doesn’t let anyone baby talk to her. Says it’s condescending. I had a conversation with the little nugget about a book she’s read about the opera. Says she’d like to go because, and I quote, ‘Mom, I need some _culture _in my life’. Told her she’s a hundred years too young to be talking like that.”__

__Yuuri had to bite his cheek to stop himself from laughing so hard. He didn’t want to wake you up, not when you were curled up comfortably like a cat on your mother’s lap._ _

__“Is that why she shook my hand like a senator and said it was very nice to meet me again?” he asked with half a smile._ _

__“Yes. She’s very smart.”_ _

__Her eyes would light up whenever she got a chance to share about you. Every member of his family said the same thing: you were highly intelligent for a five year old. A joy in the home. Talking to you was like talking to a miniature adult. You were so inquisitive and thoughtful, a dreamer at five. His mother said you told anyone who’d listen that you wanted to dig up dinosaur bones when you grew up, or that you wanted to study sharks. More recently, mermaids were your thing, and although it wasn’t easy he’d tried to find every single mermaid themed gift he could before leaving the US. You’d accepted them with a certain restraint, and then put your new mermaid doll with the purple tail to “bed” under the kotatsu._ _

__“Devours books like kids shovel candy into their mouths. Mari and I didn’t think it was kosher to send the kid to kindergarten.” Mariko said. Yuuri’s sister felt a kinship to the woman. Perhaps it was the sharing the first part of a name thing?_ _

__“We all made sure she learned to read and write here. Less kids, it’s better for her anyways. Your ma, she treats learning like a reward. The kid loves to learn, and she loves making pictures with her crayons. Your dad, he’s hilarious. Had this kid eating vegetables and fruit in a matter of days after she started on solid food.”_ _

__He was in and out with listening, alternating between looking at Mariko and then you. Mariko chattered like a parrot, unable to focus on one thing about you before going into the next part. Trying her best to catch him up on five years of absence in a few hours. Yuuri wasn’t sure what to think when he saw such a tiny person greet him with such a formal bow. He studied you closely. Your face was small. Not chubby. Closed eyelids, but he’d known those eyes immediately upon seeing you again. There were miniature features that he recognized, and some that were completely new to him. Over the spotty WiFi connection he couldn’t make out the curl of your eyelashes as clearly as he could now. Nor could he have seen the texture of each individual hair that Mariko ran long nails through, completely knot free and clean._ _

__“She’s a very, very good kid.” concluded Mariko._ _

__“Oh I agree.” Yuuri nodded in earnest, “But not really as excited as I’d hoped.”_ _

__“She’s shy. She needs to get used to you.”_ _

__No matter what Mariko tried to say to alleviate his unease it didn't work._ _

__“Mmm... She wasn’t afraid, just confused for a while. She didn’t know what to make of everything when we’d explained it to her.”_ _

__“That’s my fault too...” he muttered, “Who am I kidding... Five years and all I’ve been is a phone call every morning and Skype before bedtime. I’m the worst.”_ _

__“Give yourself some credit.” Mariko insisted. “She’s a smart cookie. She understands where you were and why.”_ _

__“Really?”_ _

__“Yes. Honest to God. We told her how important it is to you.”_ _

__It didn’t matter... not to him... not to the way he felt about the whole situation. Many years ago he’d been convinced that this was a far better solution than the alternative. His family would have murdered him and Mariko on the spot if they’d even tried to make you just another statistic, just another one of Japan’s throw away children lost to a system that would not care in the slightest about your wellbeing. But he wondered... maybe he could have tried harder? Maybe he could have found someone, a local, even a patron of his family’s business to take you into a stable home where you actually had stable parents._ _

__“Gimme a hand with her would you?”_ _

__Hearing her voice made him snap back to reality. Trying to angle you in a way that wouldn’t wake you, Mariko was struggling to lift you up and grab your dolly at the same time. You stirred once, then grumbled in your sleep as your mother implored Yuuri’s assistance._ _

__“She’s getting big for me, and the old back isn’t what it used to be after sitting in a desk chair for twelve hours a day.”_ _

__“Ah... ok. Here, give her to me Mariko.”_ _

__It was a bit of a struggle for him to bend down and pick you up (the gut got in the way, god help him he’d developed the proverbial dad bod over the last few years). There were a few mishaps, neither Yuuri nor Mariko wanted to wake you from your sleep, but he’d only held you a couple of times as a newborn and was used to supporting a wobbly head. You’d gotten heavy in the five years he’d been in Detroit. But once he figured it out, your head resting in the crook of his neck and soft breath tickling plump skin, he still felt that same creeping warmth in his heart. The kind that started in the middle and expanded outward, toasting the tips of his toes and his fingers as he rubbed your back and nuzzled your curls._ _

__He’d missed you so much... Didn’t realize it until now that he was holding you again, his plump lips planting a soft kiss on the shell of your ear_ _

__“When you were gone,” Mariko began, leading him down the hall with your mermaid dangling by an arm in her hand, “We didn’t move the crib, so she’s still in the same place she was when you were here last.”_ _

__“You mean...?” He was trying to be quiet, rubbing your back when you cooed in your sleep._ _

__“Yeah. She likes it there. It’s familiar to her, all your things you know? Even caught her cleaning up a little bit with an old rag. Said she wanted to keep everything tidy.”_ _

__Being back in his old room was surreal. Everything was the same, and yet not the same. In some places where a personal item would be, there were little books and knick knacks that belonged to you. A plastic house and Licca-chan dolls were organized at the base of his desk, one in particular with pigtails sitting on his chair. Now it was tangible, you’d completely taken over his old life while he was away._ _

__Needless to say, Yuuri was more than touched. In the beginning, your little bassinet had been right there in his room. Mariko had stayed for a little while, both she and he had taken turns waking up and tending to you on nights when you fussed and cried softly for a tender hand. But the pink bassinet with little elephants and giraffes in happy colors was gone. Now you’d taken over his bed. Instead of his usual bedding, there was a plethora of soft toys with happy faces nestled among pink sheets, and two very plump and pink pillows just waiting for little heads to lay down and dream._ _

__“She said she wanted to share with you.” Mariko said quietly. “You’ll probably want to go to bed. I know it was an exhausting trip home, but we have a problem with her being dependent on sleeping with someone.”_ _

__Everything was just far too overwhelming. Your little playthings completely taking over the little nest he’d made himself, his posters nearly being taken over with pictures of cartoons (and even one particularly large portrait of Queen’s lead vocalist), in addition to the very faint smell of clean baby powder. It was more a baby’s room than a room fit for a twenty three year old failure who’d abandoned his kid to chase a foolish dream._ _

__“I don’t mind. I’ll stay with her until we figure something out.” He whispered his words, pushing aside some stuffed animals and laying you down to sleep._ _

__Mariko handed him the mermaid, and now in sleep you readily accepted it, nestling with it in the crook of your arm._ _

__“I’m out then.” Mariko said, checking her watch and wincing. “I’ll be able to make the last train out of here if I hustle. I’m getting paid this week, and I’ll send the check to your ma as soon as my direct deposit comes in.”_ _

__“Mariko... you don’t-“_ _

__“I have, and I’m not going to stop now.” She insisted. “It’s not easy, I know. You need to get back on your feet and this is the least I can do. Take it easy with her. Be a dad for a little while, and figure out what you want to do.”_ _

__His face flushed, overwhelmed with emotion as she embraced him tightly. After all this time, she still had that homey smell of stale coffee grounds, hair like straw as it scraped against his neck and cheek. Yuuri couldn’t help but return the affection._ _

__“What if I screw up...?” he murmured into the rough wool of her turtleneck sweater._ _

__“You won’t...” she murmured back. “And if you do, then that’s ok. We can screw this parenting thing up together.”_ _

__She pulled away, wiping her eye. Still the same emotional girl that he’d known in his youth._ _

__“Hey... at least we’re on good terms yeah?” She laughed. “Lemme keep it real with you chief, I’d rather her have a straight mom and a gay father that get along then no family at all. We did alright. And I’ll be a phone call away if you get stuck and need a bit of help. But just get to know her, and you’ll see what I’m talking about.”_ _


End file.
